Tuesday night started quiet enough. I was driving home from my sister’s house when I got a frantic phone call from a friend. They told me to pull over and watch a trailer for a new video game. They were being coy (and kind of annoying if I’m being honest), but it is E3 season so I pulled over at a local gas station and pulled up the trailer on my phone. It took a matter of seconds for my emotional state to go from mildly annoyed and sleepy to full hype mode.

They announced a new Pokemon game. The funniest part about the whole thing is that they had already told everyone that a Pokemon game would be coming in 2018. So, I knew, but it just didn’t feel right until I *knew*.

Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee!

These are two versions of a game that has been heavily inspired by Pokemon Yellow. Players control a young Pokemon Trainer who partners with either Pikachu or Eevee to go on an adventure in the Kanto Region.

The key features in the new game are as follows:

Pikachu and Eevee

“Explore the iconic Kanto region like never before. You can embark on your adventure together with Pikachu as your partner in Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! or choose Eevee as your partner when you play Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!”

Play in a whole new way

“Experience intuitive controls by using your Joy-Con to throw Poké Balls at wild Pokémon you encounter. Need some help? Your friend can grab a second Joy-Con to join in on the fun and even boost the chances of catching Pokémon for the first-ever collaborative gameplay in a Pokémon RPG.”

Have a ball

“Take your Pokémon journey to a whole new level with the Poké Ball Plus. More than just a controller, the Poké Ball Plus features motion controls, lights up with a variety of colors, vibrates, and plays sounds. When catching a Pokémon in the game, you will be able to feel it moving within the Poké Ball Plus. The Poké Ball Plus also works as a Pokémon GO Plus for those playing Pokémon GO. Using the Poké Ball Plus, you can bring one of your Pokémon from Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu! or Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee! with you as you explore the real world, even when you’re not playing the game. Additionally, you can receive a variety of rewards once Pokémon are returned to the Nintendo Switch games.”

Release Date

The games will be released on November 16th, 2018 (just in time for the holidays)!

Pokemon Quest

Pokemon Quest is a free-to-start action RPG that where you get to play with adorable, cube-shaped Pokemon! You explore Tumblecube island with your new friends to find hidden treasure!

Pokemon Quest is available on Nintendo Switch right now, but will be coming to mobile devices this summer.

The key features are listed below:

Familiar Friends

The Pokémon you know and love from Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue inhabit Tumblecube Island, become your buddies, and appear on your adventures.

Power up

Use Power Stones you find on expeditions to help your Pokémon improve their moves and change their characteristics. Power up your favorite Pokémon in your own unique way!

Battle by tapping

The simple controls make for lively and fun battles! Danger is lurking, so you’ll need the help of your Pokémon team on your expeditions. When wild Pokémon appear, your Pokémon will battle ferociously to try and knock them out one after another!

Befriend Pokémon to make your own unique team

You can use the items you get from your expeditions to befriend more Pokémon or make your Pokémon stronger. Cook up dishes that Pokémon love, and you’ll befriend more of them. Create a team that’s all your own and head out on more expeditions!

Basecamp decorations

Your base camp is your home for this adventure, and you can spruce it up however you like with decorations that look good and also provide in-game benefits.

What do you think? Are you picking up any of these games? Sound off in the comments!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

Hello and Welcome to Engage!: A Family Gaming Podcast! This is episode 131. This week we are talking video games! First, our Crew talks about the newly announced Nintendo Switch Online Service. Then, after the break, Trevor Stricker from Mightier.

If I took all of the best parts of Gauntlet and mashed them up perfectly with Avatar: The Last Air Bender I still don’t think I would have a game that is as good as Wizard of Legend.

I spent a lot of time playing cooperative games with my brother when we were kids. One of our favorites was Gauntlet. Neither of us were particularly good at games (he has since gotten much better than me) so we needed to work very hard to even clear a few maps. It was a challenge for us, and it was frustrating, but we would talk and plan for hours about how we would try to work together. The local cooperative play in Wizard of Legend evoked so many of those same feelings. I was terrible, and so was my oldest son. But, we both desperately wanted to be better, and, eventually, we did just that. It was a wonderful experience that we’ll both remember for a long time.

It may have been hard to succeed, but it wasn’t hard to play. We were both able to weave our basic spells into powerful routines that crushed our enemies as we whirled around the screen. Over time it became more like a dance than anything else. This dance became more complex as we earned more chaos gems during our runs through the game and used them to buy newer, more interesting, and more powerful spells.

There is no real story per se. You play as a wizard, or pair of wizards, who is completing a set of trials. These trials consist of a set of procedurally generated levels that follow a pattern of two basic stages attuned to an element (fire, ice, or earth) followed by a grand wizard boss. This pattern repeats three times. The key is that you don’t get a chance to recover health or save your progress in between stages. If you die, then your run is over and you have to start over. The only things you can keep are the chaos gems that you earn for defeating enemies. The spells you buy each fit into an element which helps determine their behavior and the type of damage they deal. Balancing the spells in your load out to make sure that they match both your play style and the types of enemies you expect to be facing is critical. This is especially true because many of the spells in the game affect your movement.

Each of these procedurally generated levels is populated by monsters that appear in patterns depending on the shape of the room. Some of the enemy groups can be brutally unfair, but skillful play and the appropriate spell selection will usually help bail you out. The enemy variety is lacking though. Many of them look like the same monster with a very small variation in powers.

At some point I have to talk about the name though right? I’ve been avoiding it, but I can’t just ignore it.”Wizard of Legend” is, as a title, about as inspired as soggy toast. It does a terrible job of cluing players in to the game that they will be playing. Here’s hoping that enough players can look past the name to get to the great game that lies behind it.

Family Gaming Assessment

It was rated PEGI 7 “because it contains violence that lacks any apparent harm or injury to fantasy or mythical beings and creatures and non-realistic looking violence towards characters which although human are not very detailed.”

I think these ratings are accurate. There is no doubt that it is a violent game, but all of the action is directed at inhuman monsters.

Playability

Wizard of Legend is accessible. It doesn’t require complicated button combinations to move around the map and attack enemies. It is, however, very hard and will likely be frustrating to younger gamers (or older ones for that matter) who are easily frustrated.

There is a fair amount of text to read. You need it to help understand what your spells do. But, it isn’t essential. Younger gamers could get by with help from a more experienced reader.

Conclusion

I would recommend Wizard of Legend to a family that is looking for a challenge to take on together. Its ideal for siblings or a parent-child combo that enjoy playing games together and coordinating strategies. I truly enjoyed my time with my son while playing this game.

Every kid I know build pillow forts and pretended to defend their living room from something. Sleep Tight by We are Fuzzy gives us the chance to relive those childhood memories in video game form. I was fortunate enough play a lengthy demo of the game and I came away very excited.

Sleep Tight is a twin stick shooter at its core. Players control one of a group of awesome kids, each with our own special abilities and starting weapons. The goal is to defend your living room from monster attacks each night. You do that my spending each day building defenses like pillow forts and setting up foam dart gun turrets to hold off the attackers. Once night falls you run around your room eliminating foes as you try to survive for one minute.

One. Minute.

That’s doesn’t seem like a long time, but when an unending army of monsters is attacking for that entire time it feels like an eternity. The challenge is amped up even further by your limited ammunition supply. Resource management and careful planning are key. I thought that would undermine the fast action, but it didn’t. I had to use everything available to me to be able to survive each wave. I barely survived my first few waves and eventually ran into a night where my defenses were overwhelmed (#steveisbadatvideogames). I wasn’t frustrated though. I knew what I did wrong in my demo right away and adjusted my plan immediately.

Another thing that helps Sleep Tight stand out from the crowd is the gorgeous visuals. The team is comprised of a group of developers including Maxx Burman, whose credits include Far Cry, League of Legends, Westworld, and Titanfall. Disney character artists, including Dylan Ekren, who worked on Wreck It Ralph and Zootopia, and Ubisoft designer Oscar Mar, whose resume cites the Far Cry and Rainbow 6 franchises. It is easy to see why this game looks so awesome when you look at that pedigree. When I spoke to them at PAX East they told me that they wanted to make a game that looked like a Pixar movie come to life. Mission accomplished!

Sleep Tight is coming this summer to PC and to the Nintendo Switch and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

I played a lot of games at PAX East 2018, but none of them captivated me like The Messenger from Sabotage Studio did. We live in a world where everything old has been remade, revisited, remastered, and repackaged for years. You’ll never see me complain about this. Some of my favorite games of the last several years have been born from the hearts and minds of my generational peers remembering the games we loved and putting their own spin on it.

Simply put… The Messenger is a modern response to the Ninja Gaiden series from the NES era. Sabotage Studio is a team full of people who love that game and have gone out of their way to show their reverence in game form.

They have put their love for Ryu Hyabusa’s first adventure on display with this game. With that said, I didn’t just fall head over heels for some random ninja game. This has all the makings of a classic if my demo is any indication. With that said, there are three things that really stood out for me in my short time with the game.

The Controls

I’ve never met a ninja, so I could be making broad and baseless assumptions. But, I’m willing to bet that most of them are pretty quick. I doubt I’m alone there. Ninja games have play fast enough to match that assumption for me. I can’t imagine a slow and plodding combat game like Dark Souls suiting the theme. Fortunately, The Messenger does exactly what it should and more.

I was immediately impressed with the game’s snappy controls. Every button press resulted in immediate action. By the time I was done with my (painfully short) demo I was rewarded with fluid movement and fast action. Nothing felt like it was getting in my way aside from the enemies. It was a great feeling.

There is more to The Messenger than well designed controls though. Sabotage Studio gives us plenty to do. The coolest game mechanic is the “Cloud Step.” The Cloud Step is an extra jump that you can take any time you land an attack on something while jumping. This jump remains charged until you hit the ground. That leads to some very interesting path choices as you get deeper into the game. This combined with a wing suit and time travel portals spread throughout the levels makes for some beautiful runs.

I barely stumbled my way through the demo, but as I did I could imagine the runs that would be put together by skilled players. This is going to be a glory to behind in a few years at an AGDQ event.

The music and sound design

The music was just short of divine. Just listen to the video below to see what I mean. I waited in line for a while to get a chance to play the game. I was VERY grateful that the music was as good as it was.

It was genuinely funny!

I went into my demo expecting an interesting, retro-inspired ninja game. I got that. What I didn’t expect was to find myself laughing in the booth. The overall plot of the game wasn’t particularly funny, but the writing for the supernatural characters like the otherworldly shopkeeper and the demon who brings you back to life should you die were very funny. I can’t wait to see what other funny bits the team is cooking up for us.

I went into my demo excited and came out of it hyped out of my mind. Its all I wanted to talk about when I called home to talk to my kids about it. The Messenger will release sometime this summer for PC and Nintendo Switch and I can’t wait to play. What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

The Adventure Pals from Armor Games is an absurd jaunt through a bizarre world where almost nothing makes sense. Turtles can do back flips. Whales complain about “hashtag body shaming.” The hero’s best friend, Sparkles the giraffe, can use his tongue like a propeller to slow their collective fall. The villain wants to turn everyone into hot dog monsters. Every single one of those sentences is true. And here’s one more: This game is just as fun as it is ridiculous.

The premise is simple. Your dad has been kidnapped by the maniacal villain Mr. B, and is at risk of being turned into a hot dog. You, Sparkles the giraffe, and Mr. Rock are his only hope. You need to travel through several diverse and colorful levels full of pirates, cowboys, and other (even weirder) oddities in order to save him. Each new zone has a series of quests that will have you exploring complex platforming levels in search of rubies, cupcakes, and other treasures.

No. Seriously. This pirate is made out of bacon and eggs.

The Adventure Pals may be absurd, but that doesn’t mean it is simple. Eventually you will find yourself wall jumping up a passageway, then hovering with Sparkle’s tongue as you attempt to float closer to an element that you can grapple from, only to ride a zipline afterwards. It can be difficult to chain all of these different moves together, and there are no checkpoints to speak of. I would have quit in frustration if the game didn’t go out of its way to help me. The platforming in The Adventure Pals is forgiving thanks to snappy controls, easily timed wall jumping, and a mechanic that lets you mantle up onto a platform if you mistime a jump. This compensates for some devilishly challenging platforming sections as you progress through the games 105 levels. The mantling mechanic alone saved me dozens of times.

This isn’t just a simple platformer either. The Adventure Pals features a leveling system that lets you choose from up to three different perks each time you gain a level. This added a sense of progression and drove me to defeat every enemy I could find in search of blue experience orbs. The perks were varied and all of them felt useful. I loved the ability to improve my inventory size early. But, I was able to unlock pretty exotic perks later on in the game.

No one needs to play The Adventure Pals alone either. The game features drop-in/drop-out cooperative play. This is a great feature for families that have kids who just can’t make up their minds what they want to play.

Is this a kid friendly game?

The Fantasy Violence is negligible in this game. You run around fighting hot dog monsters and oddly shaped blobs with a wooden sword. This will not be an issue for the vast majority of parents.

The Crude Humor is where some folks might have concerns. I played through the game and found it to be on par with the humor found in most cartoons on Cartoon Network, or with older Nickelodeon cartoons like Ren and Stimpy. This isn’t intellectual humor here folks. We’re talking fart jokes and bosses made up of literal bacon and eggs.

Can Kids play it?

The Adventure Pals is a challenging game. Inexperienced gamers won’t be sprinting through this one. As I said above, though, the game’s mechanics are forgiving enough to keep it from getting frustrating. Youngsters looking for a challenging platformer after finishing Super Mario Odyssey will be very happy with this one.

Most of the story is delivered through text so I don’t recommend this game for early readers unless they have a helper nearby. The iconography is ok, but it is still pretty hard to follow what’s going on without being able to reason what is going on.

Conclusion

I loved this game and I think that it is worthy purchase for families looking for a smaller game to play. It will launch on Xbox One, PS4, PC/Mac, and Switch on April 3rd.

Nintendo posted a brief video today as part of the Game Developer’s Conference. It was a pretty big deal because they announced sixteen new independent games. They all looked awesome, but only a handful of them were appropriate for our audience. The following is a list of the family friendly games that they announced.

Fantasy Strike

Fantasy Strike is a fighting game, available on Steam, that simplifies traditional fighting game controls so players can focus on strategy.

It will be available on the Nintendo Switch this summer.

Just Shapes and Beats

Just Shapes & Beats is launching first on Switch this Summer. I think a lot of us will be enjoying the rhythm, platformer, bullet-hell shooter when it comes out.

Pool Panic

Adult Swim games is publishing this super quirky action game as a Switch exclusive this Summer.

Bomb Chicken

Just watch the trailer… its a puzzle platformer where you control a chicken that lays bombs like eggs. Its launching first on Switch this summer.

Lumines Remastered

Limines! This is a puzzle game that I never would have imagined would come to the Switch in a million years. The original games in the series were all associated with PlayStation. This is a welcome treat that will look wonderful on the Switch tablet.

Light Fall

Light Fall is a challenging platformer where you control a hero who has the power to build his own platforms and walls to run on and bounce off of. Its launching first on the Switch this Spring.

The Messenger

This might have been the most exciting announcements to come out of the Nindie showcase for me. The Messenger is an action platformer that is strongly reminiscent of Ninja Gaiden. The action looks fast, and I even got some Shovel Knight vibes from it. The Messenger is launching on Switch this summer.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

Sega held a Sonic the Hedgehog panel at SXSW (pronounced South by South West) on Friday that was all about Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic team lead Takashi Iizuka announced Sonic Mania Plus, a physical special edition of the 2017 hit Sonic Mania. He also teased a new project that they called “Top Secret,” but it almost assured to be a new game in the Sonic racing series.

Sonic Mania Plus

Iizuka announced Sonic Mania Plus. The biggest news is that this version of the game will feature two characters that will be familiar to anyone who played Sonic Arcade: Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Squirrel. The game will release on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch and will be priced at $29.99. Other details include:

A physical release for PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch that will include a reversible cover. The reversible cover art will let you choose either a Genesis or Mega-Drive art style.

All new “Encore Mode.” This sounds great, but we have no real idea what it means.

A four player competitive mode

Reversible cover art. The reversible cover art will let you choose either a Genesis or Mega-Drive art style.

Deluxe Packaging that will include a Holographic Slip cover and a 32-page art book.

Top Secret

They did not reveal anything about this upcoming title but the below teaser. However, things get pretty clear when you compare it to the logo from previous Sonic Racers.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

The video game marketplace is very different now than it was when many of us where kids. We remember things like strolling through Blockbuster to rent a game for the weekend or wandering around Toys’R’Us looking to purchase a new game with birthday money. That world is all over now. Blockbuster was all but dismantled by Netflix. Toys’R’Us is closing its doors. And you don’t even have to leave your house to buy games anymore thanks to digital storefronts.

The rise of digital marketplaces has brought with it a great debate between gamers who will only purchase “physical” games on discs and cartridges and those who will only buy them digitally. Both sides of the battle have their merits, but it can lead some parents very confused. This is especially true for those of us who remember when buying games was simple.

This article is intended to lift the curtain on the debate between buying physical and digital games to help you make the best decisions for your family. I know that sounds dramatic… after all we are still buying games whether they come in a box or come through the internet. I don’t mean to make it sound serious, but I do believe that this is a topic that is worth thoughtful consideration. Making the right decision for your family can save you a lot of frustration and money. (And who doesn’t love that?)

Definitions

“Physical Games” are games that are purchases in a retail store or purchased through on online retailer. The game itself is stored on either a disc or a cartridge. You might be able to download additional content for the game online, but the bulk of the game is available on the physical media.

“Digital Games” are games purchases entirely online. There is no disc or cartridge at all. Instead, you simply buy them game from a digital marketplace and download it to your device. Most of us are used to this model on our phones and there are some games that are only released digitally for consoles and for PC. But, the truth is that just about every major video game is available for digital purchase.

Physical Games – Pros and Cons

Pro

Used Games – The strongest case for physical games is that you can purchase those games used at a lower price. This is a fundamental part of the games industry. Buying and selling used games is keeping Game Stop afloat and has been for years.

Sharing – Physical games aren’t locked to a specific console so they can easily be shared with friends and family.

Trading/Selling – Physically purchased games can be traded in to game stores like Game Stop or sold second hand.

Con

Space – Physical games and their boxes take up space and can create a lot of clutter. This might not not matter to everyone, but parents who cringe when they see a stack of game cases

Durability – Physical game cartridges and discs can be damaged, lost, or stolen.

Digital Games – Pros and Cons

Pro

Cheap Games – The games can be deeply discounted because they don’t need to be sold at a price that includes the cost of the disc or cartridge it is stored on.

Cleanliness – There are no discs or cartridges which leads to less clutter

Availability – Digital purchases allow you to have access to a game at all times. This is a pretty big deal for handheld systems like the Nintendo 3DS or the Nintendo Switch. You’ll have those games in your library everywhere you go.

Con

Ownership vs Licensing – You don’t actually own the games you buy digitally. Instead, you are purchasing a license to download it and play. This means that the developer or publisher can alter or remove the game from the market at any time.

Non-shareable – You don’t have a disc or cartridge to loan, trade, or give away.

Download Size – Many modern games take up a LOT of space because of their large file sizes. Hard drives that come built in on modern consoles don’t have unlimited space.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

This Guest Review was written by our goods friend Rob Kalajian! He runs the board game website Pawn’s Perspective! You should definitely check it out!

What would happen if you took an older 16-bit Action RPG, oh, let’s say Zelda: A Link to the Past, crossed it with The Princess Bride, and released it on a modern day system? Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King. That’s what. When I bring up a Link to the Past, it’s not just for comparison sake. Blossom Tales plays like a love song to the classic SNES title. It’s a retro gaming lover’s dream, even if it’s a short one.

If you’re familiar with Zelda: A Link to the Past, or top-down action-RPGs in general, then you know what to expect from Blossom Tales. Players take control of Lily, Knight of the Rose, trying to save her king and kingdom from a dark wizard. You’ve got a sword, shield, and special items to help get Lily through all sorts of puzzles and other sticky situations. One major difference here is that unlike most similar titles that may limit your supply of arrows, bombs, etc…, Blossom Tales doesn’t. Instead, you’ve got a Special Meter that depletes as these items are used. One that recharges rapidly. It gives the game a bit more of a fast-paced feel than those that have come before it.

I mentioned The Princess Bride before. That reference mostly comes from the fact that Blossom Tales is a story being told to two children by their grandfather. As he tells the story the children often interrupt him, arguing with his storytelling technique and offering the player choices on how to change the story in tiny ways. It’s a really cool mechanic, but one that’s a tad underutilized.

Some Concerns

That brings us to the first gripe with the game. The whole idea of the grandfather telling his grandchildren a story that they influence is excellent. The choices given, however, really have a very little effect on the story as a whole. I would have loved to see the choices made have a bit more control over what happens in the game, possibly opening different dungeons or providing the player with some sort of different item or power that they couldn’t have gotten otherwise.

The next issue with the game is its length. You’re only getting a handful of dungeons – four to be exact. The entire game rounds out to about 15 hours of gameplay. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing for the younger gamers in a household, but for those of us who grew up on similar titles, it’s a bit short and straightforward. There are no real story twists that change the world or shake up the main objective.

Putting those two minor complaints aside, Blossom Tales is smooth, polished, and a blast to play. It’s family friendly, and while the game is based on combat there’s nothing explicit here. The game safely falls in its E10+ rating and can be enjoyed by younger players as long as they have the ability to read. While the game certainly feels like it’s aimed at fans of old Zelda games, it certainly has an appeal to new players with it’s colorful, retro styles and approachable gameplay.

Conclusion

Blossom Tales is available on both Steam and the Nintendo Switch at a price of $14.99. There’s really no excuse to pass up on this one. My preference would be the Switch version since it makes it easy to take the game on the go, but both the Switch version and Steam version are identical.